A Rocky Path to the Mine in Greenland?

"When [the mine] began its operations, we would only hear about how everyone was happy. The mine was going to bring jobs, improve roads. No one thought much about the inevitable collisions.”

Marco Arana, Activist, Peru
 

Greenland’s mining minister, Jens Erik Kirkegaard, ponders whether to let the big multinational mining companies into Greenland.

BBC report here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25421967

It is going to be a rocky path that Greenland probably can’t avoid treading. After all, the rest of us want the raw materials for our consumer goods, don’t we? The pressure will only grow on Greenland to open up to big mining.

It may be a bit (read very!) presumptuous of me to say this, but I hope Greenland have carried out their own SWOT analysis, looking for the opportunities and threats through agreeing to mining. It is easy to see the opportunity, the money, the wealth, but they need to be sure they understand their own weaknesses and the threats. And we are talking about a country with a small population trying to control the behaviour of powerful multinational businesses. If they get it wrong they will be as a fly sitting on the back of a beach ball trying to control it when it is blown along the beach.

Greenland - before you start, tell these big companies they have to pay up front to meet the cost of all assessments you deem necessary, and don’t move forward until they have done so. Of course you’ll need the best calibre people to advise you; tell the miners they have to pay for all of this before any commitment can even be considered. Look for advisers who haven’t already accepted the mining company penny – that might be difficult. And remember that even independent advisers can make more money by prolonging the debate. It’s big money and everyone wants a slice.

There are many questions. Who will own the local mining company, who will own the land, who will own the infrastructure created to accommodate the mine, the equipment, the roads, the new port facilities? At the start you want majority local ownership in every entity that participates. You need to keep control.

When you have to negotiate with these big powerful companies, make sure they don’t overwhelm you with their self-serving reports from the best specialists they can pay, their lawyers with their crafty terms, their manufactured deadlines, their hollow threats to go elsewhere. Don’t just ask them what they are offering; decide before you even get into negotiations what you require. And put protection of your environment and heritage above production and making profit. Don’t believe them if they tell you that is what they always do. They’ll want to tell you about the ‘good environmental neighbour’ policies they have in the filing cabinet, but if you need to understand how mining companies behave, just look out around the world. There are many notorious examples of the conflicts that can arise. What Mark Twain said – “A mine is a hole in the ground with a liar standing next to it” – may not be true, but one can understand the sentiment behind it.

Be unreasonable; ask for more than you think they will ever agree to, it is only a negotiating position after all. And when they express anger and frustration, when they tell you your terms are unworkable, when they attack you through their spin doctors and say they will walk away – just let them. For you still have what they want and they will return. And when they walk away make it clear that everything is off the table. Yes it is excruciating to start negotiations afresh, but if they return then you know you can do better. And when things become intractable with the mining companies, whose interests should you give precedence to?

Where will the revenues flow? You will want to tax the corporate entities, but multinationals are very clever at avoiding tax liabilities, better to take revenue also through the sharing of ownership. How will you ensure a fair price for the product? Why wouldn’t you expect the majority of the wealth produced to remain in the country rather than being passed to foreign investors?

“But we are taking huge risks,” they will scream. “We can’t finance the project under such onerous conditions”.

And you can reply, “But we are taking the biggest risk of all, which is that you will pollute our land, take your huge profits and then leave us to deal with the long term consequences alone.”

Look to the worst case. How will a major environmental catastrophy be prevented. How will it be handled when it happens? You need to go beyond understanding what poisonous chemicals they will use in the processing of ore and how they will stop them escaping into the land. You need extensive contingency plans and arrangements for money to be deposited up front which you can access without interference in such an emergency. A lot of money. And remember you can never put polluted land back exactly how it was.

Greenland - have you looked at your international treaties? The mining company’s lawyers certainly will have. Are you adequately protected against the consequences of becoming a ripening cherry? Remember Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait for the oil. What? It couldn’t happen here, our neighbours are our friends. But things can change when the prize is huge.

Look at what is happening now in Costa Rica, where a Canadian mining company has raised a claim for one billion dollars ‘lost profit’ against the Costa Rican government accusing it of breaching a trade treaty with Canada when a mining project was thwarted due to approval irregularities.

Article here: http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=12460

The warning is there – big mining companies will pursue aggressive litigation even against host sovereign states.

Think about your own country’s infrastructure. Can your rescue services, your hospitals cope with the consequences of a major mining disaster? Is your police force up to the challenges created by a sudden influx of relatively wealthy migrant workers, which can include increased crime and greater demand for the things that can blight our modern society - alcohol, drugs, prostitution? Will you accept a mine that runs its own substantial private security force, perhaps better resourced than your own police and with accountability only to the mine owners? And are you sure you have the structures and resources to combat any corruption that might seek a home amongst the huge flows of money?

Do you have the laws, rules and regulations to control the mines under your licences? Do you have the people to carry out effective monitoring? And just what will you do if your enforcement people turn up at the main gate in response to some problem and the mine refuses to let them in. Or you find out that an environmental issue was covered up? And what will you do if you ask them to halt production and they ignore you? You need all these things in place before you let the mines into production.

How will you handle the social disruption to long established communities? Do your own people have the skills that are required by the mining companies or will the local people, as has happened elsewhere, end up taking the lower skilled, lower paid, more dangerous work while foreign workers run the mines?

Once Greenland is reliant on mining revenues for the major part of its domestic product, will you continue to welcome the fact that there is diverse opinion in your country? How will you deal with environmental activists, both home-grown and foreign, protests, trouble at the gates of the mine? Will you tighten your anti-terrorism laws like some other countries faced with mining activism have done, will you stifle democracy, stop people from coming to your country in case they ‘cause trouble’?

Would you echo the slogan of the President of Ecuador in opening that country up to mining? - "We can't be beggars seated on a sack of gold."

But the risk is that you could end up seated on a pile of something more unpleasant after the sack of gold has been carried off by the multinationals.

You might say I’m being too pessimistic, only looking at the downside. Perhaps you are right. Unfortunately all the questions I’ve asked here are based on real life conflicts that have arisen around the globe. There are many to choose from.

Greenland, I wish you the very best for the future. You are a big, beautiful country with a small population and, I suspect, a very, very big problem. I hope it is not too big for you to handle. Good luck.

 

Find my book, Wounded Mountain, on Amazon here: http://t.co/20ZxHp6T5H

Sometimes when I travel alone...

Sometimes when I travel alone on the long road I may have to move aside to ease a stranger’s path. Should I fret at the inconvenience, or take brief pleasure in the interruption in my solitude?

Adventure Motorcycling - Why?

Did you want to know what adventure motorcycling is about?

This excellent video says it all. Different countries, difficult terrain, mountains, snow, floods, people, vehicles, challenges, risk-taking, falls...and the joy of riding so many roads.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85VErvTqgWc

 

He andado muchos caminos,
he abierto muchas veredas;
he navegado en cien mares,
y atracado en cien riberas.

 

I have walked many roads,
I have found many paths;
I have sailed a hundred seas,
and landed on a hundred shores.
 
Antonio Machado

A Ride in the Sun

A bygone era…

I’ve just finished reading A Ride in the Sun (or Gasoline Gypsy) by Peggy Iris Thomas. It was a good, entertaining read. The story of a young woman’s motorbike ride around Canada, the USA and Mexico in the early 1950s, with an Airedale dog called Matelot for company. She started out from Nova Scotia, rode right across Canada to Vancouver then down into the US, through California, then into Mexico and down to Mexico City, by ship out of Vera Cruz to New Orleans, down through Florida and then up the east coast, eventually arriving in New York after 18 months on the road.

Peggy rode a single cylinder three (!) horsepower 125cc BSA Bantam called Oppy. It was overloaded and underpowered, which led to a few problems - broken wheels, failed bearings, slow speeds and excruciating climbs over mountain roads.

I particularly enjoyed the little glimpses into how it was to ‘do the long ride’ then, compared with how much easier it is now.

The reproduction of the cover to the 1954 edition amused me. It showed the intrepid Peggy with a lady’s handbag slung over the handlebars. Who would ride a motorcycle around North America with a handbag hanging from the handlebars? Artistic licence I thought, at least until Peggy actually mentioned the handbag later in the book.

This made me curious about how she dressed for the ride – we modern motorcyclists wear helmets (most places it’s the law), boots and protective clothing. Here is what Peggy says about what she wore on the bike:

Jacket? Pants? “I began to feel so warm…It was a relief to get out of my tight jeans and hot socks, and I felt much more comfortable and cool in sandals and a cotton sun dress. I had made this costume myself especially…”

Helmet? “I sat down in my sopping dress; the hem was dripping on to the floor…My sandals flopped like boats, while my hair hung in lank rat’s tails…”

Gloves? “We left Richmond rather late…for the first time…I was wearing gloves for driving, as well as a sweater…”

Early on she had to stop to make some money to be able to continue the trip. She took two jobs - typing telegrams by night and falling asleep at her desk as an office stenographer by day. Later on, with the ravages of the road, she sometimes had to take less pleasant and more physically demanding work to fund the trip or even just to be able to buy food for herself and the dog.

The image of the dog endures, wearing its own goggles and happily riding on the back in its specially made box. Despite people’s surprise or concern to see this bold woman travelling alone with her dog, Peggy made many friends. She had charm, as demonstrated by the relative ease with which she seemed to overcome officialdom in transporting bike and dog on trains & boats and across borders.

There are many images of her riding into the evening, not stopping until well after dark, maybe riding until 11 or 12 o’clock and then pitching a tent. It must have felt like a safer world then. Wild camping, most times with only passing concern for personal safety. Pitching up late at night beside the highway, on the beach or in someone’s garden; or sleeping on the forecourt at the gas station, even sleeping on the tables in a bar after closing time.

Later in the trip, and after many miles, she had a bad run of punctures and breakdowns which left her stoically working on the bike herself or hitching lifts and repeatedly flagging down trucks to take the bike to the next repair shop, where she sometimes didn’t have enough money to pay for the repair. Time and again she met almost unfailing hospitality from all kinds of people, but this was slightly tarnished by the occasional application of male chauvinism from people who should have known better, such as the arrogant head mechanic at one motorcycle garage in Mexico City who subjected her to days of ‘manana’ before getting round to re-building the damaged back wheel.

Nowadays we can call someone on the cell-phone if we have a problem. We can take digital photos, which in many places we can download onto the internet each evening along with our e-mails and blog articles if we choose. This contrasts with the image of Peggy letting the bike fall, resulting in her losing her typewriter over the dockside along with her exposed rolls of film; and the persistent attempts to retrieve her property from the deep water when her boat was almost ready to sail.

This book offers more than just the story of a motorbike road trip. It gives many insights into how it was for a woman travelling alone in post war America. It was a different world then. A lifetime ago…

You can find Peggy's route and read more about the book here.

I Have Walked Many Roads - He Andado Muchos Caminos

I am grateful to one of my Facebook friends who posted this poem in the original. It has helped me on my belated journey through poetry in the Spanish language. Reading the poem struck a chord – the idea of travelling to other places to find that there are other visitors who have not respected the traditions and lives of those who lived there.

I looked for English translations on the internet but those I came across did not completely satisfy me. When reading Spanish poetry I find that sometimes there are exquisite phrases that just don’t make the transition easily into English. A deliberate ambiguity may be lost, a subtlety overlooked.

Some words do not directly translate in context and still retain their semantic value. ‘Andando’ – yes ‘walked’, but maybe ‘travelled’ or ‘trodden’ would be better? ‘Abierto muchas veredas’ – ‘found many paths’, ok, but more literally ‘opened’, perhaps ‘cut’ or ‘carved’ would be better. Anyway I have been through those thoughts and below is my (humble!) effort.

To me, the poem is a reminder that those who travel to other places should do so respectfully, should not be arrogant, should have some humility and should honour the people, the traditions and the land. That exhortation would include those who go to other places on our behalf, who gather the raw materials for all of us who demand goods and products as part of our enjoyment of the benefits of the modern global economy.

As a traveller I realise that my mere presence brings about change, but I don’t claim the right to expect the people I meet to change so they are more to my liking. If I am to become a better person then I, myself, have to learn from these experiences – I have to be willing to change…

 

I Have Walked Many Roads 

I have walked many roads,

I have found many paths;

I have sailed a hundred seas,

and landed on a hundred shores. 

Everywhere I have seen

caravans of sadness,

sober and melancholy

drunk with black shadow,

and pedants of cloth

who look, quietly, and think

that they know, because they do not drink

the wine in the taverns. 

Bad people who walk

and in walking soil the land… 

And in all the places I have seen

people who dance or play,

when they can, and work

their four spans of land.

Never, when they come to a place,

do they ask where to go.

When they make their way, they ride

on the back of an old mule,

and do not know to hurry

not even on the days of the fiesta.

Where they have wine, they drink wine;

where they have no wine, fresh water. 

They are good people who live,

work, pass the time and dream,

and on a day like many,

rest beneath the soil. 

English translation by James Rammell. With all due acknowledgements: Antonio Machado.

 

 

 

 

Moving the animals: Peru.

He Andado Muchos Caminos

He andado muchos caminos

he abierto muchas veredas;

he navegado en cien mares

y atracado en cien riberas. 

En todas partes he visto

caravanas de tristeza,

soberbios y melancólicos

borrachos de sombra negra. 

Y pedantones al paño

que miran, callan y piensan

que saben, porque no beben

el vino de las tabernas.

Mala gente que camina

y va apestando la tierra…

Y en todas partes e visto

gentes que danzan o juegan,

cuando pueden, y laboran

sus cuatro palmos de tierra. 

Nunca, si llegan a un sitio

preguntan a donde llegan.

Cuando caminan, cabalgan

a lomos de mula vieja. 

Y no conocen la prisa

ni aun en los días de fiesta.

Donde hay vino, beben vino,

donde no hay vino, agua fresca. 

Son buenas gentes que viven,

laboran, pasan y sueñan,

y un día como tantos,

descansan bajo la tierra. 

Antonio Machado

Global Enduro Business Fail Shocker!

Motorcycle News reported in their issue of 06/02/13 that the major motorcycle adventure tour operator Global Enduro has gone into administration. Global Enduro was behind the flagship Enduro Himalaya tour, as well as the charity-based Enduro Africa. This came as a big shock, and I suspect the reverberations will go on for some time.

The Global Enduro web-site reports the fact that the business has gone into administration, but is also (at 07/02/13) still advertising tours to Bolivia, Cambodia, and Himalaya. The links seem to be broken, so maybe they haven’t fully updated the site yet. According to Companies House, Global Enduro Limited (Company No. 04833131) went into administration on 28/01/13. It looks like this doesn’t just affect the South Africa charity tours - the CAA claims site refers to Arctic Enduro, Cambo Enduro, Enduro Africa, Enduro Himalaya, Enduro India and Karma Enduro.

MCN reports that some nominated charities have not received all the donations they were expecting. Not all the tours were sold on the basis of inclusive charitable donations, but looking at the way the charity tours were sold there is an argument for saying the charitable donation monies in Global Enduro’s hands were subject to a trust and could not be taken for the company’s day-to-day business expenses. If that is right then the Administrators could be obliged to account for that money first before other creditors are paid. And there would be a big question mark over whether the company might have been trading insolvent but for using those monies.

I wouldn’t accept the idea that if Global Enduro agreed something with the recipient charities then it was ok to delay paying over charitable donations while they used the money in the business – if that is what they intended then they should have made that crystal clear to paying customers before taking their money.

Whether people would have agreed to book their trips on the basis that donations would not be passed straight to the charities is another question. Some people will have raised sponsorship to be able to meet the trip costs and will be really unhappy if that sponsorship money has been lost in the company’s trading failure.

If, as the MCN report suggests, Global Enduro haven’t been segregating the charitable donations from their day-to-day trading funds then it raises another issue - whether pre-paid customer deposits were kept separate.

UK Package Holiday Regulations contain requirements for security and for holding of pre-paid monies separately from the tour operator’s trading funds, to facilitate refunds in the event of a business failure. This is based on European (EU) law. Global Enduro had ATOL arrangements in place for flight inclusive packages.

In my experience not all motorcycle tour operators provide information on how they comply with the Regulations. This high-profile business fail could lead to UK Trading Standards taking an interest generally in how motorcycle tour operators handle deposits. Personally I wouldn’t want to book any tours where I wasn’t 100% sure my deposit was safe and the tour operator could actually deliver on the trip.

However this stacks up, the directors of Global Enduro Limited owe their customers and the biking public generally an explanation.

Crossing Boundaries: Resource Conflicts

Good insights into Latin American resource conflicts...'acute asymmetries of power...'

See this: Crossing Boundaries | Americas Quarterly